Duke Student Government elections are now under the supervision of a new attorney general-and senators wanted to ensure the process would be no joking matter.
DSG confirmed the appointment of junior Meg Foran as its attorney general at their weekly meeting Wednesday night. Foran will be responsible for conducting the upcoming DSG elections, which were rescheduled from April 1 to March 31 so they would not coincide with April Fool's Day. Former DSG attorney general Will Passo, a sophomore, resigned Sunday because he intends to run for a new leadership position in the upcoming DSG elections. Passo did not attend Wednesday's meeting.
DSG President Jordan Giordano, a senior, said he nominated Foran for the position about 12 hours after Passo resigned. He noted that Foran has connections to a wide range of student groups on campus.
Foran is the executive director for the Intercommunity Council and co-chair of the First-Year Advisory Council. She said her experience and organizational skills made her qualified to supervise the DSG election process.
"In previous years, things have probably been a little less organized than I would like," she said. "Election committee members should all have specific tasks that they are doing."
Senators also approved a schedule for the upcoming elections that addressed concerns about holding the vote on April Fool's Day.
"Most people do not take things seriously on April Fool's Day, and we really do not want our election to get overlooked by the fact that it's a joke of a day," said DSG Executive Vice President Sunny Kantha, a senior.
Some members were worried that student groups would not have enough time to submit their endorsements before the March 31 date, but Foran said she would be sure to notify student organizations early to give them enough time to make their decisions.
Foran was also responsible for conducting a roll call vote on the most contentious issue of the night-approving an updated version of the DSG constitution.
Academic Affairs Senator Julia Chou, a junior, proposed revising the document to make its pronoun usage gender neutral. Sophomore Mike Lefevre, vice president for athletics and campus services, objected because he said replacing all uses of "he" with "he/she" would make the constitution less formal and more confusing to read.
The new constitution-without changes to its pronouns-was approved by a roll call vote.
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